Re: [OT] Don't use BibTeX!

[tsd@tsdye.com (Thomas S. Dye)]

Hi Richard,

If you're just starting out, I encourage you to use biblatex.  It will
take a few minutes to make the switch and then you won't have to think
about it.  A biblatex site you find googling should tell you what you
need to know.

There are several differences, but a big one is that biblatex supports a
much more informative database and so can handle almost any
bibliographic situation.

For those of us with large legacy bibtex databases, the database
differences are a real issue, but for someone just getting started this
isn't such a consideration. 

Biblatex is the wave of the future in the LaTeX world.

hth,
Tom

Richard Lawrence <richard.lawrence@berkeley.edu> writes:

> Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl> writes:
>
>> Dnia 2014-04-05, o godz. 09:46:39
>> Richard Lawrence <richard.lawrence@berkeley.edu> napisał(a):
>>
>>> I have sometimes run into problems (mostly with BibTeX) when the
>>
>> Sorry for being off-topic, but I can't resist: *please* *don't* *use*
>> *BibTeX*.  On the scale of "tools that solve problems" vs. "tools that
>> create problems" (cf. http://xkcd.com/1343/ ;)), it is located on the
>> far right.
>
> Now now, the first sentence on http://www.bibtex.org/Using/ says that to
> use Bibtex, "Just create a plain text file and apply what has been
> explained in section BibTeX File Format."!  It doesn't say anything
> about how to use the manual. ;)
>
>> (For instance, to be able to customize its bibliography style, you
>> could (a) give up, (b) use some user-friendly (or not) front-end,
>> having less power than BibTeX itself (obviously!), or (c) learn
>> BibTeX's own, very peculiar, stack-based ad-hoc language grown to
>> describe bibliography styles.  Not good.  Also, if you're unlucky and
>> you write in some non-English language, well, you're unlucky with
>> BibTeX, especially if e.g. your name starts with a non-Latin letter.
>> Etc.)
>
> I mostly use bibtex because that's what I learned, and none of these
> issues apply to me at this (early) stage in my career.  I have no need
> for customizing my bibliography style.  I suppose this will matter more
> to me when I start sending things out for publication, but at this point
> I'm still just trying to write the damn dissertation...
>
>> Use biblatex instead.  It's more modern, it's being supported, it
>> knowns that there exist things like UTF-8 and non-English languages,
>> it supports more citation styles etc.
>
> I have heard this, but haven't investigated biblatex because I haven't
> yet really felt the need.
>
> I keep my reading list and notes in Org, then export them to a .bib file
> using org-bibtex.  Does biblatex support .bib files?  If not, what would
> be required to support a biblatex-based workflow in Org?
>
> Thanks for keeping me honest!
>
> Best,
> Richard
>
>
>

-- 
Thomas S. Dye
http://www.tsdye.com